1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a communications system and method for delivering location-based data. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for electronically providing and delivering personalized data and information to a client's communications device based on the geographic location of the communications device or a client-entered geographic location.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to telecommunications industry sources, the number of world-wide users of wireless mobile devices will continue to rise to 2 billion by 2007. That increase has been the result of the popularity and relative low price point for ownership of wireless devices. Industry experts have stated that revenue from exchanges of data, such as text and images, via mobile phones will likely rise to 30 percent of global mobile revenue by 2008. Responding to that increased need, systems and methods for communicating information, and in particular personalized, location-specific information, to users of wireless devices continue to be developed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,023 discloses a system and method for automatically providing services over a computer network, such as the Internet, for users in a mobile environment based on their geographic location. A client computer system is equipped with a local storage device, a wireless transceiver, an input device, an output device, and an automatic location identifying device, such as a GPS telemetry receiver and associated computation circuitry. An application program is installed on the client computer system, which includes a mobile phone, that prompts the user to input information. The application program builds a data packet having location information and user information and stores the data packet on the local client storage device. The client computer system connects with a server coupled to a computer network, such as the Internet. Upon connection, the client automatically transmits the electronic data packet to the server. The primary server maintains a database that contains a list of enhanced services. The information in the data packet is used to formulate a database query. The result of the database query is an address of a particular enhanced server that matches the client's request. A specific universal resource locator (URL) that contains the address of the enhanced server is transmitted to the client. The client computer system launches a web browser automatically or in response to a user's input and connects to the enhanced server. Upon connection, relevant data customized for the client's location is automatically displayed without additional input from the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,529 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0010372-A1 disclose an individualized, location specific weather forecasting system in which, after the location of an electronic device is detected, weather data are generated and transmitted to the electronic device so that subscribers receive weather forecast data specific to their current location. The electronic device may be a wireless mobile electronic device such as a cellular telephone, a portable computer, or a personal data assistant. Detecting the location of the device may be done utilizing the global positioning satellite system and telemetry data or using information transmitted from the cellular telephone tower closest to the wireless mobile electronic device. Detecting the position of the device may also include using information transmitted from a plurality of cellular telephone towers proximate the wireless mobile electronic device (i.e., triangulation). Forecasting typically includes storing in a database a plurality of geographic sectors, and, for each sector, weather forecast data unique to that sector.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,826,481 discloses a broadcast network for selectively transmitting individualized output signals to remote communicator devices. The broadcast network is comprised of a user input database, a communicator location database, an information database, an analysis unit and a communication network. The user input database contains user-defined parameters and each of the user-defined parameters includes a user profile. The user profile in each of the user-defined parameters utilizes a user identifier code and identifies a communicator device associated with a particular user. The communicator location database contains real-time data indicative of the spatial locations of the communicator devices. The information database contains real-time data for the spatial locations contained in the communicator location database. The analysis unit repeatedly compares the spatial location of each communicator device contained in the communicator location database with the real-time data and generates an individualized output signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,987 discloses a system and method for generating weather reports and the like which are precisely computed automatically for a particular individual user's geographic location and which are automatically provided directly to the individual user. A user establishes an individualized user profile in which the user defines a particular location of interest, a contact address, and optionally, a personalized activity weather condition profile, establishing a preferred weather condition profile for activities of interest. A detailed and accurate weather forecasting model is run to provide high geographical and temporal resolution forecast data. The high resolution forecast data are compared to the individual user profile and a personalized weather report for the particular location, times, and conditions of interest is provided directly and automatically to the individual, e.g., via e-mail. The high resolution forecast data is preferably generated locally for a limited region, e.g., at a television station for the station's viewing area, using initialization conditions provided from a central location. Data are related to a grid and only one model is used, versus a variety of inputs and forecaster interpretations that are generally needed to achieve truly personalized and location-specific forecasts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,172 discloses a system for providing natural-phenomenological information personalized to the unique requirements of a subscriber and distributed to the subscriber. Natural-phenomenological data are gathered from a variety of sources, such as current ground observations, forecast conditions, satellite images, and radar data. Personal preferences of the subscribers are also gathered and stored, such as activities of the subscriber, geographic locations of the activities, sensitivities of the subscriber to natural-phenomenological conditions, calendar information of the subscriber, planned routes and times of travel, and modes of delivery. The personal preferences of the subscriber are used as a filter to identify the natural-phenomenological data that is particularly useful to the subscriber, and the resulting information is delivered to the subscriber. The subscriber identifies the destination device that the information is delivered to. The invention is extensible to support new sources of natural-phenomenological information and new output devices. Electronic delivery of the personalized natural-phenomenological information can be through any number of a variety of output mediums, including pagers, text to voice synthesizers to create an audio stream for playback either via a telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a multimedia-enabled computer, e-mail, computer display monitors, PDA, and a PCS phone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,405 discloses a system and method for receiving weather forecast information in a vehicle and using that information to warn a vehicle operator of a future weather hazard with reference to the vehicle's intended direction of travel. The method involves generating a weather forecast covering several geographic-specific cells, and indicating for each cell whether a forecast weather hazard exists for that cell; generating forecast vehicle locations with respect to the geographic-specific cells; and generating a warning for each vehicle that is forecast to be in a cell for which a weather hazard forecast exists. A communication device for receiving the warnings is disclosed as a cellular telephone or PDA associated with the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,324 and related patents and applications are directed to a system and method for receiving weather forecast information in a mobile unit and using that information to warn a user of a future weather hazard with reference to the mobile unit's location and/or intended direction of travel. The system includes a hazard location algorithm that compares a forecast location of each mobile unit with a forecast hazard and transmits a warning to each mobile unit that is predicted to encounter the hazard. As the mobile unit moves, its actual position is updated in the forecasting center, and a revised warning is transmitted to the mobile unit. The hazard information may be displayed on the user's system in the form of a rotating map to display warning information in relation to the system's location. Warnings, including audio warnings for playback and crawls for display on a television, are disclosed as being automatically generated and spoken or displayed to a user.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/887,854 discloses a system and method for receiving personalized weather reports based upon receiving an individual's location (e.g., lat/long) to warn users of approaching or current inclement weather conditions and to avoid the hassles and costs of unexpected weather changes. In one embodiment, a mobile phone user will be able to retrieve the current or approaching weather for his location through the mobile phone device. The wireless service provider may provide the user's location, using methods such as GPS tracking and/or triangulation, to a weather information center. The weather information center may then transmit meteorological information that it may collect or retrieve, consistent with the user's location, back to the wireless customer. Transmission of such information may be sent directly to the user's wireless device or it may go through any number of relay stations. Transmissions may travel over a range of media such as telephone lines, packet switched networks, the Internet, mobile telecommunications networks and the like.
What is missing in each of the aforementioned systems and methods, however, is a location-based information communications system and method that provides information (i.e., using a “pull” technology) or delivers information (i.e., using a “push” technology) for a specific geographic point (versus a localized region), where the information to be provided or delivered is determined by applying a statistical method to the nearest available existing geographic location-based information for a particular location and adjusting the output to account for location-specific features such as geography (i.e., terrain), historical trends, and other factors. Previous systems and methods provide regional “local” information, based on the data location point closest to the user's location, rather than truly localized information (based on the actual location point indicated for the user). Accordingly, there exists the need for such a system and methods.